Pretty Maiden all alone
by liliaeth
Summary: Spike, Buffy and Dawn end up trapped in an alternative past where the memory of an evil Spike still rages amongst the watchers and the slayer-line. (BuffySpike)
1. Encounter

Title: Pretty maiden all alone  
Author: Lore

Rating: PG13

Summary: Spike, Buffy and Dawn end up trapped in an alternative past where the memory of an evil Spike still rages amongst the watchers and the slayer-line. (Buffy/Spike)  
Notes: the past AU is the one shown in the Christopher Golden Spike and Dru Book 'Pretty Maiden all in a row' where Spike and Dru are set up by a powerful icedemon by the name of Skrymir to kill all the known potential slayers. The book ends with Elizabeth Boudreaux called up as the new Slayer after Spike kills the current slayer Sophie and the next SIT called, Isabel dies fighting the demon Skrymir.

****

1946 London

Elizabeth whistled as she walked through the battered streets of London. Noticing the way the city was rebuilding, recovering from years of war. It was a clear night, barely no fog and she'd had to work to get some hunting done.

She'd spread mayhem amongst the undead crowd, destroying an entire nest as if it were nothing and had manage to stake two fledglings fresh out of the grave. Things went too easy.

She'd almost asked for harder prey, of course the gods had chosen to answer her request. 

And now HE was here, again.

His white blond hair standing out in the dark night. Moonlight reflecting off his worn out duster. His back was facing her, stopping her from seeing his eyes, but she was sure he'd heard her.

Not just any vampire, Spike.

She fumbled to get to her stake, strangely enough he actually gave her the chance to do so, slowly turning his face her way. He stared at her, she didn't think he'd even recognized who she was, but he sure did understand what she was. She got ready to fight, he let her. Then he...he ran.

It was a trap, she went after him regardless... 

She finally found him, his back still turned towards her, his hands touching the brick wall of the dead-end alley. She could see muscles ripping beneath the coat, could see his hairs, curlier than she'd remembered. Strange to notice this, right before a fight, but it seemed softer as well.

She noticed a silver ring on his left thumb, two golden ones on his right thumb and middle finger. Something glittered around his neck. He didn't move for the longest time and she should probably have just staked him already... No, it was a trap, had to be.

Then he turned around, smiling... no smirking. His eyes didn't fit. They'd been harsh and cruel when he nearly killed her. The cheekbones were still the same, so were the nose, the lips.

It was Spike alright.

Off all the cities in the world, and he had to walk back into hers.

Yet those eyes... had she seen that same look when Sophie had thrown Drusilla out of the window of that train? Had there been concern in them then?

She just couldn't remember.

"Well gee copper, think you caught me."

He drawled out the words in a fake cockney accent. She'd heard enough real ones, these past years of patrolling London streets to realize that. It sounded good, but was off, as if he were pretending to be something he wasn't.

"Spike."

"Slayer."

Did she imagine his smile?

It soon faded as they both heard a scream, she hesitated a second, he attacked. She kicked out, he grabbed her leg before she could hit him and threw her against the wall. She crawled up, trying to defend herself only to see him jump up to the nearest window, holding on and crawling up to the roof.

Why didn't he do that before?

She tried to follow him, but found herself unable to grab hold of the proper ledge, she could see how he'd done it, finding miniscule bits of stone sticking out to give him a hold, but it was too dark to find them for herself. She dropped down and left the alley, following the sound of the scream.

Tbc


	2. The Battle of London

***** 2004 London *****

Dawn could feel the itch spread up along her legs. She winced as she stretched her knees, fighting to get her blood flow running again. She could barely see parts of the battle that had already seemed to go on for hours.

There were over thirty Slayers in the battle, not even counting Buffy and Faith. The principal--Dawn still couldn't get herself to call him Robin--was fighting alongside the dark-haired Slayer. Xander was watching Marissa's back. The girl's green-purple-whatever spikes betrayed her as a Brachen. She didn't even wonder why no one--including her--had been surprised to see Xander end up dating another demon. At least Marissa wasn't trying to kill him. Yet.

Willow, tightly guarded by Kennedy, was weaving some kind of spell, leading the coven into a binding spell that hopefully would stop Skrymir's ritual from opening the London fissure and changing the world into a sea of ice and darkness...

There were seventeen witches in the coven, including Giles. Do you call a male witch a warlock or not? Stupid thought, there's so much more going on, but she wondered about it, actually almost because she didn't really want to think about what was going on...

Spike lashed out, surrounded by a troop of skeletal black demons. They fought in silence, ignoring the resurrected vampire's taunts.

An impressive army, if she could say so, yet no matter how strong they were, no matter how powerful they were together, Dawn knew they were lost. And this time there'd be no mysterious sun amulet brought in at the last moment to save the day.

Well, not on their side, at least. 

The huge ice-demon had started the ritual hours ago, starting right before the sun went down. There had been no time to prepare for the demon's arrival. No year long stretch of attacks until the demon finally decided his big day had come to destroy the world. Instead, they'd had a year of eerie silence, preparing the new Council, looking for the newly activated Slayers. 

They hadn't known that Skrymir had been searching for artefacts, talismans and general magical artefacts for centuries, they hadn't known how close he'd gotten to achieving his goal. Not until a troop of his demons had attacked her and dragged her here.

Dawn wrestled against her chains, desperate to get out of the circle drawn in the blood of a young Slayer, killed specifically for this sacrifice. She could hear Spike yelling her name, she could see Buffy cut down an ice-demon, that was over five times her size. Willow's voice rang all over the streets, bouncing against the walls as her spell increased in power with every single second.... but it would come too late.

"Hail mary full of grace, the..." Damn how did it go, she could remember four demon languages, read over five human ones, yet she couldn't remember more than one sentence of a prayer her mother had taught her as a child. "Help me."

Walls crumbled inside of her, dams breaking, already weakened by the ritual, awakening something inside of her that should have stayed dormant. She had to get out, away, somewhere else, where there was no Skrymir, no apocalypse, somewhere safe, anywhere... oh god...

A portal opened right in front of her, green energy simmering around it, waving, rolling; she could feel it start pulling on her, on the magic around her, grabbing them all and dragging them in, including her. 

Buffy screamed her name, Dawn scratched her fingers in the soil, desperate for something to hang on to. Her fingers bled, itched; Buffy grabbed her hand, she was safe... but she could see her sister getting dragged along as well. Skrymir came running their way, huge wings of ice forming on his back. Spike jumped on top of him, forcing his blade into him over and over again. It didn't seem to help. The demon threw him away, right into the portal. Dawn could feel her sister's grip loosen for a second before it strengthened again. She could hear Buffy whisper his name. Not again, no... But then they were pulled into the portal as well, Skrymir following close behind.

He almost seemed to melt, Frosty the snowman, couldn't take the heat, but the pain quickly overran the fun... She felt pulled in a thousand directions all at once, finally they just fell, falling, forever, till they hit the ground. Her sister right on top of her, still holding on to her.

And all that was left was mind numbing pain.

tbc


End file.
